Diane Neyer's Market Street Garden Is a Palette of Colors
By Sean Ely

Diane Neyer, a co-owner of Metivier Inn, deadheads her perennials Friday, August 10, in the front yard of the bed and breakfast on Market Street. Mrs. Neyer has been experimenting with different flowers for more than 15 years. She does not consider herself a master gardener, but a trial and error person. Her colorful displays have even attracted new customers.

Walking near the Metivier Inn on Market Street, many people have been inspired to stop and take photographs, lean down to smell the flowers, and even venture indoors to ask, "How on Earth do you get your astilbes to grow that big?"

Diane Neyer, the gardener who coaxes the flowers each summer, however, doesn't consider herself a master at gardening.

"I am what I call a trialand error person," she said. "People mistake me as a Master Gardener, but I've just learned as I've gone on. When you first start out, and you think you are enthusiastic about it, you buy every type of plant you can think of and stick it in. I have slowly eliminated a lot of things and just kept to a more simplified theme."

Mrs. Neyer enjoys a cottage garden look, but her setup has its own unique structure.

"One way I like to put it is that I like to do artwork paintings, and it is almost like creating a painting," she said. "I change it almost yearly, trying to find a little different way of doing something."

Mrs. Neyer, her husband, Ken, and Ken's sister and brother-in-law, Jane and Michael Bacon, have been operating Metivier Inn for 22 years. Mrs. Neyer has been perfecting the garden at the bed and breakfast for 15 of those. Although she has changed her collection of flowers and their arrangement from year to year, she has kept the springy, fresh color scheme.

The pinks, blues, whites, and purples are eye-openers. The Inn's small blue trees near the walkway to the door get some of the most attention. They are not very winter hearty, however, and must be taken out every fall and stored in a greenhouse.

The soothing colors attract passers-by, who stop for photographs of family and friends in front of the garden, and they also are responsible for attracting some of the guests.

"It has really become known for the garden," Mrs. Neyer said of the bed and breakfast. "It is a big curb appeal thing, but we have noticed that it has actually brought quite a few guests, and they say they have come because of the flowers."

Mrs. Neyer also tends the garden at Hart's just down the street from the Inn and at her home in Traverse City.

The garden at the Metivier Inn stretches all the way around the house, but costs less than $1,000 a year to maintain. Hart's garden adds another $500 to the budget.

Mrs. Neyer spends between three and five days at a time in the spring getting the entire garden up and running for the season. After she does all of that, she maintains it all for two to three days a week. It starts to slow down in August because the plants are growing and maturing. She calls the maintenance a manicure and pedicure procedure. She deadheads the flowers and cuts off anything that is dying.

With such a beautiful array of flowers comes an even bigger list of creatures that want to destroy it, but the fact that she has learned so much over the years has helped her fight off these pesky and sneaky critters.

"I have learned how to combat prehistoric slugs on the Island, which are very long," she said. "I have a three-pronged approach to keep them from devouring everything. Rabbits are dangerous as well; it's always a struggle with the bunnies on the Island. The watering is never a problem; it is the slugs and the bunnies that I have to fight every year."

Metivier Inn has an elaborate irrigation system that operates from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. every morning to keep everything moist and healthy.

"This whole thing is just a hobby that never gets old for me, and I have a lot of fun with it," she said. "I conduct experiments, try new ones, and just see what works the best. I picked a theme and stuck with it; I simplified it all. It has all worked out well for the Metivier Inn. I'm happy about it."